to think baby formula should come in plain packaging?

[Yoyoyozo]

Fancy packaging is used to inflate prices and extract more money from parents with phrases like 'premium' plastered on the tin. Parents shouldn't be made to feel guilty for not buying the most expensive, well-marketed brand.

Yes, parents can make their own informed decisions, but clever marketing is proven to undermine this.

A report published in The Lancet (2016) unveiled that aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes is undermining efforts to improve breastfeeding rates

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2.pdf

No, this is not equating infant formula to tobacco! The aim is to prevent exploitative marketing practices that undermine access to impartial information on infant feeding.

You clearly think that people on low income are stupid, and incapable of making decisions about what they can and can't afford. They don't need 'saving' by you, frankly.

YABU. ⬆️ this, so you want to create more stigma around mothers who for whatever reason bottle feed their children? I breastfed one of my children. The reason for not breastfeeding the others were circumstantial ones. First DC couldn’t be fed due to mastitis which ended in hospitalisation, the others were circumstantial. The amount of pressure that was put on me to breastfeed was unbelievable. It was horrible, I already felt like I had failed my child but I was made to feel awful and my life was made even more difficult purposely by the midwives as they didn’t approve of bottle feeding. I think we need to stop making mothers feel so guilty for not breast feeding and just offer support. It’s shocking how much pressure can be put on mother’s and it clearly doesn’t work as rates are not high.

Humans make milk for their babies- that is the biological (or 'normal') way that babies should be fed. This is a fact.
It is not biologically 'normal' for babies to be fed milk intended for a baby cow.
Just because you find the wording triggering doesn't make it any less of a fact.

The word 'fact' is taking some abuse there.

Do you think cows milk and formula are the same thing? How is infant formula intended for baby cows, is that what the manufacturers secretly want? Should we also be giving formula that wasn't derived from cows milk to calves too? Enquiring minds want to know!

Yes, I had the same. The drs and nurses in NICU could not have been more supportive of FF. they just wanted to see my baby start thriving and get us discharged. They didn’t care if he was BF or FF, just that he was taking milk and getting stronger.

It was a totally different with midwives and health visitors.

You do realise its formula feeding companies who coined the phase best is best, they actually found it made mums feel OK to formula feed as hardly anyone obtains perfection in life.

Using language like breastfeeding is normal has been found to help encourage mums to breastfeed. Although in then UK the figures for breastfeeding at birth are high, in the 90's. The issue is lack of support, midwife's having little traning in breastfeeding. All due to cultural changes that happen during the 60's/70's, which was fueled by formula companies trying to get a larger market share.

If baby formula, why not all commodities sold to the public?

Anyone dumb enough to believe the writing on packaging is anything other than advertising "puff" is the sucker who, as W C Fields said, doesn't deserve an even break.

What makes you think they would reduce the price if they are not spending it on the packaging though?

I might be wrong, but I think "first milk" is the only one that is medically necessary (you can keep giving them this until they are old enough for regular milk) follow on milk is not. So they will continue to advertise that, the same well advertised brands stay well known and people will buy the brand they know even if the packaging is quite plain. Or do you mean they shouldn't be allowed to put their brand name on it either?

It would be good if there was a cheaper option available though (the cheapest I've spotted from a quick Google was £8 a can while the most expensive was £18). It is not medically necessary to spend £18 on formula if there is a cheaper one available, doesn't matter what the packaging is.

I found it really awful in NICU where I was expected to feed large quantities of formula in a way which felt like force feeding, no support with expressing and then moved back to postnatal where breast was best and expected to breastfeed. I don't know if the large formula feeds made my baby expect larger amounts of milk but it was a while before I could satisfy them on breastmilk alone but they didn't want me to top up. The different parts of the hospital and community care need to have a more united approach on feeding because this sucks.

I had my child outside of the UK and can explain why bfeeding is more successful outside of the UK. Min hospital stay is 2 days. A nightmare...but you have staff on hand to watch you bf. I had a nurse come everytime I fed to check my latch. When milk came in day 2...Still in hospital...everyone together yes its normal baby wants to fed all the time. By time you leave most are confident to continue.
In the uk you have a baby and are shipped off home.

This is true. The only DC I managed to bf was born overseas and I was kept in hospital for 2 nights, standard vaginal birth with no complications. There was a lot more support and I managed to get a lot more rest than I did in the uk, I was given fresh food as well which was a bonus.

I didn’t breastfeed because I am quite self-conscious already. I would not have felt comfortable getting my breasts out in public, or in front of male family members if I’m honest. It was also important for my mental health that my partner and mum were able to help out in those early days. I had a c-section and the recovery was brutal, I can’t imagine also being 100% responsible for all feedings whilst trying to recover.

I did express milk and also harvest colostrum for those first few days though.

for all those who are saying there is no difference in formula feed brands there historically, certainly, has been and there are sometimes changes in regulations that mean the certain FF companies then have to change their formulation. Things that have historically varied between brands are eg. whether the feed contains palm oil; are the ingredients organic; although there are regulations on what the product has to contain, the sources of these nutrients (fats, proteins, carbs) may come from different sources eg. does the product contain cow milk derived or vegetable derived fats, does the product contain corn syrups; what type of pre and probiotics are included ( that may be really important for parents of poorly babies like mine who had their gut bacteria wiped out by strong antibiotics in their first week of life) . Many of us will not be able to look into this so having market competition is actually important as it means that there is commercial pressure on FF companies to invest in researching and producing the best product.

It’s really upsetting and frustrating to come on these threads and see how many women “couldn’t” breastfeed. Statistically, 98% of you “could” have breastfed, but have been completely let down by a broken system with 0 support. 2% or less of mothers have actual medical reasons why they they can’t breastfeed - the rest is purely lack of support and understanding regarding how it works, and a total failure in our system to up support when it’s not working - how quickly does the health visitor just resort to formula or mixed feeding as advice? It’s awful, and then mothers feel they have failed at something when the system has, in reality, failed them.

this simply isn’t an issue in other countries where there is far better support in place, and BF is the cultural norm.

I just wanted my baby to feed, gain weight and come home.

I had one midwife on the ward tell me she had far more “respect” for the mothers who preserved wirh BF in NICU even if if meant their babies were in hospital longer.

Fuck that. I wanted us home and him healthy. I didn’t care about breast feeding.

pardon? what health risks? breast milk comes with health risks if we want to be silly about it. Allergens, lack of essential vitamins, disease can all be passed. Neither is absolutely 100% perfect for the baby because babies are all so different.

Formula is a perfectly suitable alternative to breast milk if mom can't or doesn't want to breast feed. It will never be a replacement as an identical food but it is a healthy perfectly satisfactory alternative.

i've breastfed for 2 years with 2 different kids but my youngest failed to thrive. He's now at 2 years old the best sleeper, most active and easiest to feed child out of all of them. He's also at the ideal weight and height for his age, where as the other two were always very small.

I thought advertising for formula was only allowed for post-6 months formula? And if you're buying that when your HV will tell you it's not needed then more fool you IMO. Normal formula is fine, and when weaned you don't need it at all.

No one wants their baby in NICU any longer than they have to.

@WhatNoRaisins I agree, thats the most batshit comment from someone who should know better. I found the NICU staff ,by far, more empathetic than the ward staff and i think its because NICU staff are so aware that having a healthy baby that comes home with you from hospital is the most important thing of all.

It is. Very odd that a midwife would consider that an appropriate remark to make to a NICU parent. Speaking as one who's also been in that position. I can't imagine what possessed her.

yeh i'm still buying it. i live in a country where the milk is all uht and absolutely rank.

Yeah because I really needed another kick while I was down about my failure to breastfeed 🙄my baby was losing weight, I had no choice. Plain packaging would have just added to the shame I felt.

Yep - I notice the usual trademarks of saying the controversial - then returning periodically after people have shared some really distressing stories to basically "absolve" them of an "acceptable" incidence of formula feeding.

It's the usual wind it up and rake over people's pain trick combined with wanting to basically "shame" women routine. I'm pretty much beyond it now - both my kids are functioning well, kick arse, stroppy and smart pre-teens - but bloody hell the judgement and condemnation from people who really had no business sticking their nose into my baby feeding arrangements at the time was horrendous.

Incidents included:
Stereotypical little old lady peeking into the pram - "what a lovely little baby - I hope you're feeding him yourself" (like no, I ship him down the local crack den every four hours and it's a she thank you)
Watching another woman being absolutely hounded out of the local Sure Start when the breastfeeding circle started a "I can't believe that X celeb is bottle feeding their child - they must really not love their baby" conversation - they then had the fucking cheek to ask me to crochet them the baby boob hat that was the fad back then
I went to a postnatal MH group because I had horrific PND after the second - and a breastfeeding support worker decided to declare that she had the "right" to come in and "educate" this group of women about breastfeeding - when most were on relatively high dose medication that had meant they had had to prematurely stop breastfeeding and were still feeling absolutely awful over that decision.
Oh yeah and a notable mention for the comment when I couldn't do baby led weaning because DD1's prematurity meant her motor skills weren't quite there yet but the guidance at the time was to wean on actual age not adjusted - "you're force-feeding your baby mush".

It is vile, it is toxic and people get a huge fucking kick out of raking over people's wounds (because shockingly - Aptamil does not negate the love you have for your baby) for their own comparative sense of self worth and gratification.

🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡

I suspect most babies are happier being formula fed than raised by the kind of see you next Tuesday mums who relish making these kinds of comments.

I think its interesting how some people are so passionate about this topic when there are kids living in poverty, malnourished and not getting proper meals in this country.

There are kids who are already struggling with weight and obesity issues.

It think it's great if society demands changes for healthier children. I just don't think breast feeding versus formula is the way to do it.